How Much for a Senate Seat?

"I've got this thing. And it's f...ing golden. I'm just not giving it up for f...ing nothing. I'm not going to do it. I can always use it. I can parachute me there." - this is direct quote from the transcript that the Federal investigators released yesterday. It comes from a wiretapped phone conversations of the Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and as the U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald further explained it refers to a vacant U.S. Senate seat left by the President Elect Barack Obama. Governor Blagojevich has the sole power to appoint the person who will take that seat.

If you live in the state of Illinois, like I do, you are probably not very proud of your governor. Countless allegations about corruption, federal investigation, ties to prosecuted and convicted criminals, the list just goes on and on. And now we have been labeled by federal officials as one of the most corrupt states in the entire United States, if not the most corrupt.
But if you live in Illinois you are also probably very aware of the highest taxes in the nation that we pay, really bad highways and local roads with constructions that seem to never end, numerous police corruption scandals, and now a perspective of paying $6.50 for an hour of parking including weekends and nights in the downtown area after a number of planned rate increases within the next few years.

So despite the bad publicity, I am actually very happy about this development. Finally someone at the very top of the administration will be held accountable. I just hope this is the first big step in a series of developments that will remove bad, corrupt elements from the institution that should serve the residents and not just think about staffing their pockets and conspiring to get re-elected.

category: US domestic | posted by: Norbert | comments: 2

Addiction to Piracy

It seems unbelievable that in today's world a small boat full of armed criminals is able to hijack for ransom a foreign ship carrying a cargo worth of $100 million dollars or a cruise liner with over 1,000 passengers on board. In the first scenario the pirates have actually succeeded and they are holding a Saudi giant tanker with $100 million worth of cargo crude oil on board. In the second scenario a US cruise ship was actually able to escape the attackers speed boats. Lucky for them!
Despite international criticism and effort to fight this criminal process, there have been 40 vessels hijacked this year off the coast of Somalia and another hundred or so failed attempts. One can only imaging the amount of money that changed hands in order to free the ships and their terrified crews.
Why is it so difficult to control and eliminate this process? It all comes down to a failed state being unable to control its own citizens and their actions. Somalia has not had a successful government since 1991 and the current political lawlessness there doesn't project optimistically. So the question remains what it would take to stop this 21 century piracy phenomenon. The longer nothing serious gets done, the more money gets pumped into the hands of criminals and the more power they have to destabilize the central government to their advantage. If piracy has been so successful, those who benefit from will go out of their way to keep the status quo.
I am really eager to hear the first report of a foreign military ship entering one of the ports of the coast of Somalia in an effort to free a hijacked ship. I can see how relatively easy that mission would be. It's very likely that a proper demonstration of power would be all that's needed to achieve that. I also can't imagine who else other than the government of Somalia would protest that on the international scene. But since they themselves are unable to do anything about it, would anybody really seriously listen to them?

source: Los Angeles Times

category: International | posted by: Norbert | comments: 0